A lot can happen in a year. Since this book was published last summer, the world we're in has changed considerably - in precisely the ways that Will Hutton anticipated. His writing helps us understand how and why America has acted as it has, why Blair has so far tucked himself in behind Bush and why he must swiftly act to distance himself from America and reintegrate Britain within Europe.

Although he was criticised at the time for apparent anti-Americanism, Hutton is at pains to distinguish Bush's neo-conservatism from America's noble liberal tradition. The selfish, neurotic and aggressive face that America presents to the world is an expression of its increasingly fragile economy which is, Hutton argues, the product of a conservative refusal to curb the powers of the corporations.

A phenomenal wealth gap has left the US with three million millionaires, while poverty levels inch beyond the 12 per cent mark that was reached during the last two recessions. Low growth, underproductivity and inflated share prices make the American economy deeply vulnerable. The astonishing fact that three quarters of all American savings are now held on Wall Street puts consumer spending at the whim of the markets, which leaves America hugely dependent on the global marketplace: hence its obsessive need to control that marketplace.

This vision of a country whose 'entire economic fabric is on a knife edge' stands in ironic contrast to the Bush administration's devil-may-care posturing. Hutton concludes that America's hyperpower status is the result of a global confidence trick, and argues that, not only for ethical but for pragmatic reasons, Britain should act swiftly to realign itself with European interests. This is where he may shed some readers. British Americano-scepticism is at its peak, but 'Europe' is still the federation which dare not speak its name. Nonetheless, this is a passionate polemic and an eloquent summary of the world we're in.